BP have had a significant presence for several years West of Sheltand with their "Foinaven" and "Schiehallion" developments. Exploration activity in this area by the other majors has been sporadic until recently but offshore activity at the port of Scrabster, the UK’s most northerly mainland port, increases significantly.

The completion of a new deepwater berth in 2003 has also brought Subsea 7 to the port with the "Subsea Viking" using Scrabster as a base port for the second year in succession.

On a round trip 24 hours of vessel time can be saved for West of Shetland operators when they use Scrabster rather than Aberdeen. By reducing transit time there are further opportunities for cost savings and reducing delays offshore. There is direct access to the working berths here and trucking materials to or from the Aberdeen area takes only 6 hours.

The Trust and local business are committed to providing whatever support they can to encourage even more offshore vessels to call at Scrabster.